Greece is to acquire its first two diving parks – one off Crete and the other off Arcadia in the Peloponnese – following years of lobbying by local authorities keen to tap their areas’ potential for alternative tourism. 

The project closest to realization is that slated for creation off Apokoronas, in the Cretan prefecture of Hania. Local authorities have an agreement with the Defense Ministry that will allow them to sink two old warships within the 6-hectare site.

Local Mayor Haralambos Koukianakis told Kathimerini that authorities had applied for 46 licenses to make the project happen. “We’ve been working on this since 2014,” he said, adding that he hoped the park would be ready by 2022. 

The second park, off Tyros in Arcadia, is to cover a larger area, 170 hectares. Haralambos Lysikatos, mayor of South Kynouria, where Tyros is located, said he had grappled with red tape too. “It took four or five years of bureaucracy, but we made it.” 

This article was first published on ekathimerini.com